I actually started with the Outlander show, not the books. I saw a trailer before it premiered, immediately got Starz specifically because I wanted to watch it, and somehow I have kept Starz all these years because of this damn show. After season one I finally dove into Diana Gabaldon’s books, and that was pretty much it for me.

Now, if you’ve ever looked at the runtime of an Outlander audiobook, I fully understand the reaction of, “Absolutely the hell not.” These books are huge. You are not casually listening to one on the drive to the grocery store and finishing it by dinner. This is a commitment.

But Davina Porter makes it so easy to forget how long you’ve actually been listening.

I absolutely love her narration. And it’s not just that she reads the story well. She does ALLLLLLL the accents. Scottish, English, French, American, different characters, different ages—she makes it fun. You don’t feel like one woman is sitting there reading hundreds of pages to you. The characters actually sound like different people, and when you’re spending that many hours in one world, that matters a lot.

Davina Porter makes an audiobook that should feel enormous somehow feel like you haven’t been listening that long at all.

I’m really sad she won’t be narrating the final book. I completely understand why, but I’m still sad about it because her voice has been part of this series for me for so long. There have even been reports that she came out of retirement to narrate Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, which honestly makes me love that performance even more.

And speaking of Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, that one is actually my favorite book in the series. Of course it had to end on a cliffhanger, because apparently Diana Gabaldon enjoys watching us suffer. So now I’m waiting for Queen Diana herself to publish the final book like everybody else.

A huge reason I stayed with this series is the history. I am a massive history buff. I’ve always loved it, and apparently I passed that down because my youngest is now in college studying history. So when Diana starts weaving Jamie, Claire and their family through actual historical events, wars, politics and different periods of history, I am completely in.

I’d honestly say history is about 50 percent of what kept me going. Jamie and Claire and the family they built are the other 50 percent.

Diana Gabaldon gave me the history that kept my brain invested, but Jamie, Claire and the family they built are what kept my heart there.

And Jamie and Claire are probably one of the biggest reasons Outlander works as well as it does for me. They aren’t some perfect couple who never fights. They argue. They bicker. They piss each other off. They hurt, forgive, disagree and keep going. At the end of the day, though, it is always the two of them against the world in the most literal sense possible.

They are what “ride or die” actually means.

And yes, I love Bree and Roger too.

Both versions.

Books and show.

You can yell at me later.

I know people have very strong opinions about them, but I like that their relationship isn’t just Jamie and Claire 2.0. They are their own people with their own problems, and I think that makes the family feel more real.

I do prefer the books overall because I am huge on canon, but I also love the show. And being a canon person does NOT mean I think every single change from a book is automatically bad.

Keeping Murtagh longer than the books did? Fantastic choice. He is probably my favorite character on the show and I loved getting more time with him.

So when I complain about changes, it isn’t because I think adaptations have to copy every page exactly. A change just needs to make sense.

And some of the later choices did not work for me at all.

I hated the final season. I especially hated how much time was spent on the Franny storyline. For me, it dragged on way too long, and worse, I felt like it cheapened the pain of Faith. That episode was devastating. It mattered. Claire’s grief mattered. So when later storytelling made me feel like some of that weight was being stepped on, I hated it.

I also hated losing Fergus, although I understood that choice more. Losing Henry Christian would have been even harder for me to watch, so I could at least understand why they might have gone that direction even if I didn’t like it.

That’s kind of where I land with adaptations in general. I don’t need everything to stay exactly the same. Just make me understand why you changed it.

One thing I will always give Diana Gabaldon credit for is how well she keeps everything straight. These books have a ridiculous number of characters, places, historical events, family connections and timelines, and somehow I very rarely feel lost. She is really good at reminding you where you are and what is going on without making it feel like she’s stopping the story to explain everything again.

So if you are looking at one of these audiobooks and thinking, “There is no way I’m listening to something that long,” my answer is basically: you’re missing out.

Davina Porter makes the time disappear, Diana Gabaldon keeps giving you reasons to keep going, and by the time you’re fully invested in Jamie, Claire, Bree, Roger and everybody else, you stop caring how many hours are left.

You just want to know what happens next.

And apparently you also keep Starz for more than a decade because of one trailer you saw years ago.

Oops.